Pygmy

or Pig·my

[ pig-mee ]
See synonyms for Pygmy on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural Pyg·mies.
  1. Anthropology.

    • a member of a small-statured people native to equatorial Africa.

    • a Negrito of southeastern Asia, or of the Andaman or Philippine islands.

  2. pygmy, Disparaging and Offensive. a small or dwarfish person.

  1. pygmy, anything very small of its kind.

  2. pygmy, a person who is of small importance, or who has some quality, attribute, etc., in very small measure.

  3. Classical Mythology. (in the Iliad) one of a race of dwarfs who fought battles with cranes, who preyed on them and destroyed their fields.

adjective
  1. Often pygmy . of or relating to the Pygmies.

  2. pygmy, of very small size, capacity, power, etc.

Origin of Pygmy

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English pigmēis, plural of pigmē, from Latin Pygmaeus, from Greek pygmaîos “dwarfish” (adjective), Pygmy (noun), equivalent to pyg(mḗ)) “distance from elbow to knuckles” + -aios adjective suffix

Other words from Pygmy

  • pygmoid, adjective
  • pyg·my·ish, adjective
  • pyg·my·ism, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Pygmy in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for pygmy (1 of 2)

pygmy

pigmy

/ (ˈpɪɡmɪ) /


nounplural -mies
  1. an abnormally undersized person

  2. something that is a very small example of its type

  1. a person of little importance or significance

  2. (modifier) of very small stature or size

Origin of pygmy

1
C14 pigmeis the Pygmies, from Latin Pygmaeus a Pygmy, from Greek pugmaios undersized, from pugmē fist

Derived forms of pygmy

  • pygmaean or pygmean (pɪɡˈmiːən), adjective

British Dictionary definitions for Pygmy (2 of 2)

Pygmy

Pigmy

/ (ˈpɪɡmɪ) /


nounplural -mies
  1. a member of one of the dwarf peoples of Equatorial Africa, noted for their hunting and forest culture

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Pygmy

Pygmy

A member of any ethnic group in which the average height of the adult male is less than four feet, eleven inches. There are Pygmy tribes in dense rain-forest areas of central Africa, southern India, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The most widely studied Pygmies are the Mbuti of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, who pursue a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence (see nomadism and hunting and gathering societies), but have established complex interdependent relationships with their non-Pygmy farming neighbors.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.